Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140153
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
With the help of the fifth grade, more than 400 kindergarten and first-grade students have sent letters to Santa Claus via e-mail on the Internet, and Santa is writing back to each of them this week.
``It's a great program,'' Richard P. Sidone, Birdneck's principal, said of the first-year effort. ``Besides working with the technology, the kids are brushing up on their writing and communication skills. Then you have the interaction between the older and the younger kids. It's worked out real well.''
Santa e-mail is being billed as a way to capture a child's imagination.
``We wanted to introduce the younger children to what computers can do,'' said fifth-grade teacher Irvin Beard, who launched the program.
Although the sending takes only a few seconds, the process takes a few days.
Before jumping on the keyboard, fifth-graders help kindergartners and first-graders put together their letters to Santa. Most teachers have a general format to follow, so the older pupils pair up with the younger ones to assist them with reading the letter format and with spelling.
While their duties are limited, some of the older students take their jobs further. ``I think some people might not believe in Santa Claus,'' said fifth-grader Amy McCulloch, 10. ``I know, to them, Santa is real. I like encouraging them, making them happy and helping them believe in him.''
After writing, the students go into the computer lab together to type the letters on 15 Apple II GS computers. All of the letters are saved and sent to Santa's mailbox on the one computer that is hooked up to the Internet.
Santa, with help from Beard, collects the messages, writes to each child individually and prints out his responses. The letters are personally delivered to the children.
by CNB